A truck dumping biosolids in Geneva, Illinois

Waste Not, Want Not

Sewage is a vital part of a circular economy—and we have the tech to make good use of it. Why don’t we?
A street dog in Varanasi city, India

Our Most Popular Stories of 2022

Personality tests, street dogs, underwater treasures, and a natural history of dragons.
Mark Zuckerberg

Who Wants the Metaverse?

What exactly is the “metaverse,” and what could it be, beyond an overused, hyper-trendy prompt in marketing copy?
Bromus diandrus and Bromus tectorum in Zion National Park

The Greening of the Great Basin

The growth of grass in a desert might not seem problematic, but the introduction of invasive species can disrupt plant, animal, and human inhabitants.
U.S. Weather Bureau Balloon, c. 1909-1920

Long Before Sputnik: An Explosion of Federal Science

The National Academy of Sciences was created by the United States Congress during the American Civil War. The timing wasn’t coincidental.
A YouTube video view with a Covid-19 information popup

YouTube During the Age of COVID-19

The video platform faced myriad challenges in combating disinformation, made more acute by a reliance on automated tools for content review and moderation.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foxhounds.jpg

Public Paw-licy: Dog Breeding, from Pedigrees to Bans

Harmony between human and canine shouldn’t be difficult to find, but poorly defined policies and breed uncertainties makes mutts vulnerable to public biases.
A computer screen with an old Wikipedia logo

Whatever Happened to the Open Internet?

There may be a way out of corporate control of the internet, but it probably starts with money.
Panicum maximum, Guinea Grass

Plant of the Month: Guinea Grass

The West African grass was imported to sustain Caribbean sugar plantations, but it has turned against them, becoming a symbol of resilience and independence.
A rendering of Van Gogh's Sunflowers vandalized with an orange liquid

Masterpiece Theater

Climate activist attacks on works by van Gogh, Vermeer, and other art world titans are the latest in a tradition of destruction that hearkens to the early Christian zealots.